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The Return of the Druids in Ireland

The abortion referendum in Ireland is over, and many are devastated by the tragic outcome. Some now conclude that Ireland has surrendered to the secular European agenda. It has lost its Catholic identity. The progressives are now giddy with joy proclaiming a new modern Ireland that has left behind the old.

However, there is nothing new in the present battle for the soul of Ireland. Throughout its history, the struggle for the Irish soul has always been over its Druids. Ireland only abandons the ardor of the Faith when it allows its hidden Druids to return and dominate.

This is what has happened now. The Druid label fits perfectly on the political caste that has imposed divorce, same-sex “marriage” and now abortion on the Emerald Isle. The diviners, charmers, priest, magicians, astrologists and wizards of old were amazingly similar to their neo-pagan counterparts today.

The Druids’ principal doctrine supported a life without moral consequences since they believed the soul did not die but passed at death from one person to another. Although these frequenters of sacred oak groves are viewed as a priestly sect, they were quite secular. Their influence was much more social than religious since their role was mostly administrative and ceremonial. The Druids had no god of their own nor did they introduce any new divinity. They merely lived with the local gods as they were.

Finally, as a part of their duties, the Druids performed human sacrifices. It was their custom to have large wickerwork structures that were filled with people and then burned as part of their offerings to appease local divinities.

The Rise of the Neo-Druids

To those who have observed modern Ireland, these and other similarities make the Druid appear quite familiar. With the approval of abortion, modern Irish progressives are fully neo-Druids. With the killing of the unborn, they will lead the nation back to its cruel and barbarous origins. Likewise, they will be the bitterest opponents of Christianity, not to be appeased until the light of Christ is snuffed out. That is how it was in the past, and is again today.

The battle for the Irish soul is over this return of the Druids. Abortion, same-sex “marriage” and divorce are the important issues that dominate the headlines, but the core debate is the titanic clash between two opposing irreconcilable worldviews.

The only way to fight Druids is with the bold audacity that so characterized Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, and which even today molds the fiery Celtic souls of those he brought into the Church.

The Way to Fight Neo-Druids

This helps explains the devastating loss of the abortion referendum. Neo-Druids are not moved by emotional pleas for the lives of innocent unborn babies. They promote their immolation. Barbarians only think about gratifying their unbridled passions; they care little for who they hurt. They follow their radical urges and are unimpressed by those who defend their views weakly or are mired in mediocrity.

The only way to fight Druids is with the bold audacity that so characterized Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, and which even today molds the fiery Celtic souls of those he brought into the Church. The dark passions and superstitions of the neo-Druids must be denounced and overturned. The liberating true Faith must be presented with zeal and daring.

The Example of Saint Patrick

Indeed, such was the scene on that fateful Easter vigil in 433 when a decree went forth over the kingdom of Erin that all fires were to be extinguished until the signal fire on the Hill of Tara was lit by the Druids at the royal palace. At the opposite end of the valley, atop the Hill of Slane, Saint Patrick kindled a massive Paschal fire in defiance. The Druids implored the king to take action for they claimed the “fire will blaze forever in this land unless it be this very night extinguished.”

By God’s protection, all efforts to put out this fire or harm the missionary archbishop failed, and the saint boldly led a procession with miter and crosier, arrayed in full episcopal attire, to the Hill of Tara where he confronted the Druids and put them to flight. The evangelization of Ireland began with this confrontation. Many of the Druids were so astonished that they requested Baptism.

What Impresses Druids

The example of Saint Patrick is full of lessons on how to deal with Druids and today’s neo-Druids. Druids are impressed by faith-filled certainty and conviction. They are intimidated by a manly courage that despises and challenges their myths and superstitions. They are marveled by ceremonial beauty. Above all, God showers His graces upon those who dare to confront the evils of the day. He blesses their actions. Such is the stuff of the legends and song that are so much a part of the poetic Irish soul.

Alas, this dramatic example was not heeded in the referendum on abortion. It was judged “prudent” that the Church play a subdued part in the debate over the taking of innocent lives. There were no dramatic challenges on the part of churchmen to denounce the promiscuous neo-Druid lifestyles that are so much a part of the abortion culture. There was no fire lit to illuminate the darkness of the postmodern wasteland that makes abortion so prevalent.

And that is why the center of the struggle for the Irish soul must always be over the return of its Druids. It is the only way Ireland will again be Catholic.

What is needed are fiery souls that will contest not just social issues, necessary for sure, but all the neo-Druid falsehoods that undermine the Faith. There must be an unapologetic proclamation of the Faith that defies the diktats of modern secular society. Ireland must implore Saint Patrick to raise new disciples who can rekindle the embers of Christianity that remain, so that the Pascal fire may yet continue to “blaze forever” on the Hill of Slane, and put the neo-Druids to flight.As seen onThe Imaginative Conservative.